Senate, House OK JobsOhio

Thursday

Feb 17, 2011 at 5:03 AM

By MARC KOVACDix Capital BureauCOLUMBUS " State lawmakers gave their final OK Wednesday for plans to establish a nonprofit group to handle the state's economic development programs.The Senate approved and the House later concurred on amendments to the JobsOhio bill, sending the legislation to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.It's the first bill to reach the governor's desk this session and brings to fruition one of Kasich's campaign promises. He is expected to sign it into law in coming days.The final vote on House Bill 1 in the Senate was 31-2, with most of the Democrats in the chamber supporting it."This is not our last crack at this target," said Sen. Tom Sawyer, a Democrat from Akron who supported the bill. "We'll have another effort at this. We will refine it again in the late spring after we see it begin to come together. ... I have confidence in where we're going today. This is a work in progress, one that deserves our support."The Ohio House concurred on the changes made in the Senate, though under a party-line vote of 60-35, with Democrats continuing to oppose."I still think we're driving in the dark. I still think we can do better for Ohioans," said Rep. Matt Lundy, a Democrat from Elyria. "Our message to Ohio is, we're open for business, but once again, you still can't look in the windows. JobsOhio is fertile ground for corruption. We could have done much better."Backers say the bill is a first step in the process of moving the job-creating functions of the Ohio Department of Development into a private nonprofit called JobsOhio that they say will be better suited to react to businesses thinking about expanding in the state."Ohio is in serious economic trouble," said Sen. Mark Wagoner, a Republican from Toledo. "We have lost hundreds of thousands of valuable jobs over the past few years. The current Ohio Department of Development has become calcified during the past few years, slowed by a variety of mandates and a loss of focus."JobsOhio would be overseen by a nine-member board, including Kasich and eight other individuals he would appoint. Those directors would not be paid for their involvement, though employees of the nonprofit would " including potential bonuses based on performance.The nonprofit would be responsible for reaching out to existing companies and firms thinking about expanding into Ohio, negotiating economic incentive packages and helping to commercialize research and technologies developed at the state's universities.JobsOhio would start with an initial $1 million appropriation from the state and would seek out other public and private funding.Lawmakers will have to pass additional legislation later this year to complete the transfer of economic development programs to the new nonprofit. As a private entity, JobsOhio would not be subject to the state's open meetings and records laws, ethics and conflict of interest rules or other requirements that generally affect state agencies. Instead, JobsOhio would be required to have four public meetings annually and would have to disclose contract information, employee salaries and other details in an annual report.The legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday included more than 30 amendments from the House version of the bill, many opening JobsOhio to additional public scrutiny. "This bill includes a great deal of transparency," said Sen. Keith Faber, a Republican from Celina. "There is very little in this bill that's going to allow JobsOhio, the new nonprofit, nongovernmental entity, to go forward and do behind the curtain."But those changes did not go far enough for Democratic lawmakers, including Cleveland-area Sen. Michael Skindell, one of two no votes on the bill.Using some imagery from the story of the three little pigs, Skindell called the version of the legislation passed by the Ohio House a house of straw, and the version on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday a house of wood."I cannot find another beast out there that is similar to JobsOhio with regard to structure," Skindell said. "We need to shine the light on job creation in Ohio, not to put it in darkness."Rep. Ronald Gerberry, a Democrat from Austintown, added later during House deliberations on the bill, "Imagine two years ago (if) we brought this bill to this House floor and asked you to support this type of power grab by (Gov.) Ted Strickland and how you would have responded. Because I know how you would have responded, the same way we're responding."Yes, this bill was passed in the speed of business. We could have taken months with this bill, but the fact remains that we are going to allow this Legislature to relinquish our authority in disbursing state money. We shouldn't do that."But Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from southwestern Ohio, countered, "If the bill before us today is a house of wood, then the current Department of Development is a house on fire. This Department of Development is not moving (at) the speed of business. They're not even moving at an 18th century courier speed."

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